


Flea Brothers

by semele



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 09:59:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3115892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semele/pseuds/semele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Sirius has fleas, Regulus is thirteen.</p><p>(warning for death mentions)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flea Brothers

The first time Sirius has fleas, Regulus is thirteen.

Mother is in a right state, a very bourgeois display of temper, and when she sends a Howler to Hogwarts later that night, it's not exactly a display of a stiff upper lip either. It's their first day of summer holidays, and Sirius already has her riled up, possibly a new record, not that anyone is counting, except, of course, Regulus is.

There is some complaining about how Hogwart's gone to the dogs, and Sirius is listening to it with such a shit-eating grin that if Regulus had any doubts before, he'd lose them this very second. It's astonishing, really, that their parents are still so clueless, what with the amount of hints Sirius drops every single day. It's like he wants them to guess, just so he can watch the world burn.

Regulus doesn't like fire, and he doesn't like the challenge in Sirius' eyes, so he keeps his mouth shut.

***

When Regulus is fourteen, Sirius puts on his Muggle leather jacket, sticks his wand in his pocket, and takes his fleas to the Potters, where they belong.

There is a moment when Regulus really, really wishes he'd told on him when he had a chance – when it was still relevant, when it would've made a difference, when it would've led to a good, old-fashioned fist fight. “Sirius is an unregistered Animagus,” he wants to tell his father. “Did you know that?”

Instead, he goes to his pristine bedroom, takes one of his beautiful cushions, and throws it, once, in the general direction of a carefully chosen part of the wall where nothing is hanging.

***

Last time Regulus sees his brother, they are in London again.

Diagon Alley is impossibly crowded, so no wonder Sirius doesn't see him. He's busy haggling over some trinket, and when he absent-mindedly lifts his left hand to scratch himself behind the ear in a very dog-like manner, it's James Potter who bats it away with a mock-disgusted noise. 

Regulus briefly considers toying with him. In all honesty, Sirius deserves a good scare after years of bad dog puns – deserves some howling under his windows, and perhaps a neatly wrapped flea collar on his doorstep, all while Regulus considers whether or not he should tell The Dark Lord what he knows, what he has known ever since he was twelve, and simply didn't get around to telling anyone yet.

But then, Regulus is dead within three weeks, and the collar is left in his desk drawer on Grimmauld Place, for Sirius to find and toss away without a second glance sixteen years later.


End file.
